rthib

Anyone wonder why Marriott slowly shuts down programs and benefits.

This would be exhibit A.

They set up programs for a reason, then people spend time trying to game the system.

Eventually Marriott gives up and stops the whole program.

The LNF was not designed as a game, so in a few years when Marriott drops the program and people wonder why - you can look back to this thread and have your answer.

dd992emo

Excellent point. ^

rcross23

First of all, this is very silly logic. You don't think when they set up the LNF guarantee they discussed all of the potential ways that it could be exploited? All promotions and guarantees are obviously analyzed by a committee with far greater knowledge of Marriott's finances and customers, and I'm sure performed a cost-benefit analysis that resulted in them approving the LNF guarantee. Other hotel chains offer price match guarantees that are easier to take advantage of, and are more publicized. Most people I talk to (not FTers), even those who travel frequently, are unaware of the LNF guarantee. Therefore, I'm sure the small percentage of travellers taking advantage of the LNF does not have a huge impact on Marriott's bottom line. The all-inclusive offer that was cancelled is a better example of a business decision made as a result of too many people taking advantage of a great deal.

Secondly, I would like to ask all of the naysayers at what point you would NOT consider it cheap/petty. Is it a couple dollars? Five bucks? In the grand scheme of things, the difference of $4.80 between that arbitrary $5 and the $0.20 I mentioned is obviously pretty miniscule, so how can you call one cheap/petty and the other fair? And the 25% savings that would result from this $0.20 difference is about $20, which over a 3 week stay (Mon-Fri) is $240 in savings. That is a significant enough savings that I don't feel embarrassed to submit such a claim.

There are obviously people on here who make significantly more money than I do, but everything is relative. Try to keep that in mind before you judge someone for trying to save some money.

CreditMadeEZ

It may seem cheap and petty to some for someone to ask to save $240 because they found a difference of $.20 in nightly rates. But... as folks have pointed out, from the corporate side this is like hiring a bunch of mystery shoppers that only get paid when they find a standards compliance problem. And then corporate hits up the individual hotel owner/manager to pay for the non-compliance. The individual hotel owner/manager may be unhappy that they got caught for being out of compliance, but they can take it as a lesson in how to improve their systems. The customer is happy because they got a deal. Corporate is happy that a non-compliance issue was reported.

I think those who think it is cheap/petty feel that the reward is large for the size of the infraction. It may only be $.20, but sometimes it is good to catch those little issues before they turn into big ones. The question a good manager would ask is why the prices were posted with a $.20 difference. Typo, bad training, limitation of pricing engine, automated computer price posting problem, bad attitude, signals to aliens from outer space, etc. Only if you know you have a problem and what it is can you hope to fix it.

nacho

One of the FTer here who commented about being petty to file LNF for 0.02 difference is also the one who very much think if you don't tip a good amount, then you are petty. Oh well, we are all entitled to our opinion as long as it doesn't offend the other people.

A lot of FTers including myself are money/points sensitive - that's why we are here to exchanging or sharing information about some special promo/code to save $$$$$. I wouldn't have been able to travel the way I do without the help of other FTers for sharing their tips/information.

Back to Marriott LNF, I think Marriott is charging more for their rooms on Marriott.com than other chains. I can often find Hilton/IHG hotel cheaper than a Marriott. So this LNF is to get people who are price sensitive to stay at Marriott.com, I don't believe that Marriott is loosing money from doing that - each room they sell they get revenue - that's why you see a lot of Marriott properties using Priceline to fill up their empty rooms.

When I was staying at a couple of CYs in Europe, I saw big group of bus tourists staying there too - do you think they really pay Marriott's USD 120 per night?

I saw crews in a couple of Marriotts, do you think they pay USD 249 for a night? Please let me know if they do.

All these are called Price Discrimination.

SkiAdcock

Well-said both of you.

Cheers.

sdsearch

I've got some perspective on this because I mostly stay in the same area all the time, and thus repeat many of the same hotels a lot, and yet am on a budget and on my own dime, and can't afford most Marriott hotels at their Marriott.com rate most of the time, and yet only stay at hotels which are giving good promos when they're giving good promos (I belong to enough program to be able to just "follow the promos"). So only with LNF can Marriott (and their hotels) have me as a frequent guest.

Some seem to like it more than others.

One of them lets me get rooms at more than half off the marriott.com rate every time I try, even if that's weekly or twice a week. They occasionally adjust the third-party rate that I use, but they never seem to completely take it away.

On the other hand, several other hotels in the area, the moment I use one of the third-party rates I find, (as soon as) the next day it's gone. It sounds like the Marriott LNF folks may be notifying the hotel what website and what rate was used for an LNF, and some hotels respond to that by going "oh, gosh, we didn't want that third-party rate out there!" and take it down quickly, while others go "that's fine, only a tiny fraction of our guests use this, and some of them are very faithful to us as a result, and so we don't mind as long as it doesn't run out of control".

In fact, could some of these be "mistake" rates that I'm finding for them? One was for a hotel which had rates $100ish, but one third-party site was showing a "1 King" rate for $75ish, and then a "King Room" rate for the same $100ish that marriott.com showed. (The hotel has only one type of 1-king-bed room, btw.) I did an LNF on the $75ish, and got a response a few hours later that it had been accepted. But the next morning, all those "1 King" rates for that hotel were gone from the third-party site, and only the normal-rate "King Room" rates remained. So were these intentional low rates that the hotel decided to pull after getting an LNF on them, or mistake rates, or was it just coincidence (and they had expired that morning)?

spamkiller

We provide a service by providing them with the information on the 3rd party rates -- so they can eliminate the "problem" and it costs them a discount for 1 person.

If you have ever seen Miracle on 34th Street, the same thing works. Macy's will know and refer a customer to other stores when they don't have something. That way, you go to Macy's first. In this case, you go to marriott.com first and stop there. (except the FT crowd who will look for a lower rate to win the discount.) Just like the stores that offer the 110% price match or Building 19 which price matches and gives the customer a bottle of "Champaign el Cheapo."

nacho

Fortunately Marriott doesn't always kill of the site like IHG does

DillMan

I could not agree with these posts more. I certainly have issues with Marriott but I hate to play the "gotcha" role. I just don't get the obsession with doing so.

dd992emo

That's my point. Marriott has cheesy promotions like every other corporation. It's the "gotcha" aspect I find distasteful. And I ain't buying the altruistic "I'm helping Marriott identify trouble spots" remarks....

It just sounds like many people walk up to the FD locked and loaded to find something wrong and get something for it. All MR members can't be lawyers...can they?

BKKLEE

quite a few and alot more what-a-bees.......

SkiAdcock

What I find distastful is someone assuming everyone plays the 'gotcha' game & are locked & loaded .

Cheers.

dd992emo

"many" does not mean "everyone"...

SkiAdcock

Sorry, but many still means a lot. And I beg to differ that many go 'locked & loaded' to the FD & play the 'gotcha' game. Are there some that do? Sure. Are they the majority? Doubtful.

Cheers.